PRIVATEERING. 



585 



CORBESPOKPEKOE.) The declaration was then 

 submitted to the American Government ; and 

 Mr. Marcy, Secretary of State to Mr. Pierce's 

 Administration, approved of all, except the 

 clause abolishing privateering; but Mr. Marcy 

 made a counter proposition. " It is," said he, 

 " not the policy of the United States to main- 

 tain vast standing armies and navies. When, 

 unfortunately, we go to war, we depend upon 

 our people to protect us on land, and on our 

 ship-owners to defend us on the water." "If 

 you will make all private property exempt from 

 capture at sea, we will cease privateering ; but 

 why ask us to abolish it, while you maintain 

 and send out your great ships of war, which 

 are neither more nor less than privateers. They 

 go forth to do exactly the same thing as the 

 ships that we license in time of war, to burn, 

 plunder, and destroy." " Make all private 

 property exempt from capture at sea, and then 

 we will agree that privateering shall cease." 

 This offer was favorably received by France, 

 Russia, and other maritime powers, but was re- 

 jected by the British Government. The elec- 

 tion for the presidency took place in the autumn 

 of 1856, and Mr. Buchanan was chosen the suc- 

 cessor to Mr. Pierce. The question of inter- 

 national maritime law now undervs ent further 

 discussion in the United States. It was con- 

 tended that, in addition to the exemption of 

 private property from capture when at sea, it 

 should be free from molestation when entering 

 or leaving a commercial port ; that, in short, 

 blockades should be restricted to naval arsenals 

 and towns which were at the same time in- 

 vested by an army on land. ... In the course 

 of these discussions, President Buchanan ad- 

 dressed a letter to the Chairman of the Xew 

 York Chamber of Commerce, in which he said : 

 " We must obtain the consent of the powerful 

 naval nations that merchant vessels shall not 

 be blockaded in port, but be suffered to pass 

 the blockading squadron, and go out to sea." 

 The consequence of this state of opinion was, 

 that Mr. Dallas, the United States Minister at 

 London, was, in 1857, instructed to suspend the 

 negotiations which had been opened upon the 

 basis of Mr. Marcy's proposition. 



Thus the matter remained till the spring of 

 1859, when, on the breaking out of the war in 

 Italy, a circular despatch was transmitted from 

 Mr. Cass, President Buchanan's Secretary of 

 State, to the representatives of the United States 

 at the European capitals, suggesting still fur- 

 ther reforms in international maritime law. 

 " He considered the right of blockade, as au- 

 thorized by the law of nations, was liable to 

 very great abuse, and that the only case in 

 which a blockade ought to be permitted, was, 

 when a land array was besieging a fortified 

 place, and a fleet was employed to blockade it 

 on the other side ; but that any attempt to in- 

 tercept trade by blockade, or to blockade places 

 which were commercial ports, was an abuse of 

 the right that ought not to be permitted." 



The British Government replied, that " the 



system of commercial blockade is essential to 

 our naval supremacy." (See BLOCKADE.) 



If the proposal of the United States, to abol- 

 ish commercial blockades, had been favorably 

 received by the British Government, there can 

 be no doubt, from the known tendency of other 

 maritime powers, that it might have become a 

 part of the law of nations, and in that case the 

 commerce between England and the Southern 

 States of the Amercian Union would not have 

 been interrupted by the present war for the 

 blockade is acknowledged by Europe only as a 

 belligerent right, and not as the exercise of 

 municipal authority. The Southern privateers 

 would not have existed. 



Thus, on the breaking out of the civil -war, 

 April 15, the old rule in relation to privateers 

 prevailed in the United States. The most of 

 the shipping and commerce belonged to the 

 North ; the South having, comparatively, little 

 afloat. Hence, the proclamation of the Presi- 

 dent, April 15, 1861, calling for 75,000 troops, 

 to " repossess the ports," was replied to by the 

 President of the Confederate States, in a proc- 

 lamation to grant letters of marque and reprisal. 

 (Set p. 137.) This was at once met on the part of 

 President Lincoln, by a proclamation of blockade 

 of the Southern ports, which closes as follows: 



"WASHINGTON. April 19, 1861. 



And I hereby proclaim and declare, that if any per- 

 son, under the pretended authority of said States, or 

 under any other pretence, shall molest a yessel of the 

 United States, or the persons or cargo on board of her, 

 such person will be held amenable to the laws of the 

 United States for the prevention and punishment of 

 piracy. By the President, 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. 



The proceeding of the Confederate President 

 was followed on the 6th of May, by an act of the 

 Confederate Congress, " recognizing the exist- 

 ence of war between the United States and the 

 Confederate States, and concerning letters of 

 marque, prizes, and prize-goods." (See p. 161.) 

 The preamble sets forth the state of war : '* There- 

 fore the President of the Confederate States is 

 authorized to use the whole land and naval forces 

 of the Confederacy to meet the war thus com- 

 menced, and to issue letters of marque and re- 

 prisal against the vessels and property of the 

 United States, and those of their citizens." 

 The general provisions for privateers are the 

 same as those involved in the proclamation of 

 the President. It is further provided, " that the 

 proceeds of all prizes shall be distributed among 

 the owners, officers, and crews of the capturing 

 vessels, according to any written agreement 

 between them, half to the officers and crews, 

 half to the owners. Prizes, before breaking 

 bulk, must be carried into some port of the 

 Confederate States, or of some friendly State, 

 to be proceeded against before some competent 

 tribunal, which may make restitution or decree 

 damages ; in case the capture shall have been 

 made without probable cause, all persons found 

 on board any captured vessel are to be placed 

 in charge of the authorities of the Confedera- 



